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FOUR KILLED, 16 INJURED IN FORT HOOD SHOOTING – David Barer and Claire Z. Cardona for the Dallas Morning News: “A soldier being treated for mental health issues opened fire Wednesday at Fort Hood, killing three people and wounding 16 before fatally shooting himself at the same military base where 13 people died in a 2009 attack, authorities said. The gunman was being evaluated for PTSD, but a diagnosis had not been confirmed, said Lt. Gen. Mark A. Milley, the senior officer on the base. U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, identified the shooter as Ivan Lopez, 34. Fort Hood officials had not formally released his name, pending notification of next of kin.”

--“Milley said the shooter ‘had behavioral health and mental health issues.’ He said the soldier, who had self-reported a traumatic brain injury and was taking anti-depressants, had been under examination to determine whether he had post-traumatic stress disorder. ‘We are digging deep into his background,’ Milley said. Lopez, who was married, served in Iraq for four months in 2011 … There was no indication that the incident was terrorism, although the attack was still under investigation and nothing had been ruled out, Milley said.” http://goo.gl/aVVdJV

--Army Secretary John McHugh and Gen. Ray Odierno, the chief of staff for the Army, are scheduled to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee this morning in Dirksen. Fort Hood questions could arise during the hearing, which begins at 9:30 a.m.

--Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas): “Tonight, Texans’ hearts are once again very heavy. The scenes coming from Ft. Hood today are sadly too familiar and still too fresh in our memories. No community should have to go through this horrific violence once, let alone twice. I ask that all Americans join Sandy and me in praying for the victims, their families and the entire Ft. Hood community.”

--Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas): “My prayers are with all in the Fort Hood community who have been impacted by today’s shooting, including first responders who have been actively working to move people out of harm’s way and secure the area. Our office will continue to closely monitor the situation and stands ready to offer assistance as necessary.”

DEMS BACK REID AS LEADER – POLITICO’s Manu Raju and John Bresnahan survey a broad swath of Senate Democrats and find that Majority Leader Harry Reid has lots of support to stay on as the caucus’s top Democrat, no matter what happens in November: “Reid’s support remains solid in part because most Senate Democrats blame the White House — not him — for their increasingly tenuous hold on power. Boosting his standing with colleagues, Reid is on a relentless fundraising drive to help raise money for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Senate Democrats’ main super PAC, the Senate Majority PAC … ‘Absolutely,’ Sen. Mary Landrieu, a vulnerable Louisiana Democrat facing voters this fall, said when asked if she would back Reid as leader no matter the outcome of the November elections. ‘We all share in success, we all share in the failures; we’re a team. But Harry Reid has tremendous respect of members of our caucus. … I don’t believe that he would be challenged in our party for leadership until he’s ready to step aside.’”

--“‘Yeah,’ Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor, another Democrat facing a tough race, said when asked if he’d back Reid again. ‘It’s up to him on whether he wants to do it.’ ‘Harry Reid is our leader, and I certainly do support Harry,’ said Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.). ‘And I have a huge race going on right now, and I will be victorious. And I will be back next year. And we can talk all about that then.’ But Sen. Joe Manchin, the conservative West Virginia Democrat who doesn’t face voters until 2018, said flatly, ‘I don’t know’ when asked if he’d back Reid if Democrats lose the majority. ‘This place has got to work.’” Meanwhile, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said she rejects the premise of Manu and Bres’s question. http://goo.gl/MtvHPp

DRIVING THE DAY – The Senate Intelligence Committee is poised to vote on declassifying key findings of a report on the CIA’s detention and interrogation policies later today, and the Democratic-led panel got a key GOP vote on Wednesday in favor of the move from Maine Sen. Susan Collins. The AP’s Bradley Klapper and Stephen Braun with the curtain-raiser: “Even as Thursday's vote neared, members of the intelligence community raised concerns that the committee failed to interview top spy agency officials who had authorized or supervised the brutal interrogations. They questioned how the review could be fair or complete.”

--“Once the 15-member panel votes as expected to declassify a 400-page summary and the key findings of its report, the CIA will start scanning the report's contents for any passages that compromise national security. That has led to fears that the CIA, already accused of illegally monitoring the Senate's investigation and deleting files, could sanitize key elements of what Senate investigators aim to be the fullest public reckoning of the ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ used on al-Qaida suspects in CIA-run prisons abroad. The committee's chairwoman, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has urged the White House to get involved.” http://goo.gl/ap27cE

--The vote is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. The Washington Post had a review of the report’s findings earlier this week: http://goo.gl/NHqa51

SCOTUS RULING OPENS DOORS FOR MORE POLITICAL SPENDING -- POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein breaks down what this means: “Chief Justice John Roberts has a blunt message for wealthy donors tired of campaign finance rules: Fund a super PAC. It’s simpler, he wrote in his McCutcheon v. FEC opinion Wednesday, than dealing with a web of interlocking fundraising committees. Roberts also did something that outraged advocates of tighter campaign finance regulation: He used the ubiquity of super PACs to justify looser rules on political contributions. Roberts spearheaded a 5-4 high court ruling that said caps on the total amount of money an individual can give to political campaigns, PACs and parties are unconstitutional. ‘It strikes us as far more likely that [the donor] will want to see his full $500,000 spent on behalf of his favored candidate — even if it must be spent independently — rather than see it diluted to a small fraction so that it can be contributed directly by someone else,’ Roberts wrote.” http://goo.gl/DGS2I0

--One Democratic campaign committee tells Roll Call’s Eliza Newlin Carney that he was “happy as a pig in shit” after the court ruling: http://goo.gl/FHXBMd

--I detail the Democratic response coming after McCutcheon: At least two hearings in the Senate and a forthcoming bill from House Democrats that plans to reinstate the aggregate limits for contributions: http://goo.gl/mzLATg

--Rick Weiland, a Democrat running for the open U.S. Senate seat in South Dakota, said McCutcheon "may be the worst decision by any Supreme Court since the Dred Scott case reaffirmed slavery in 1857." The Sioux Falls Argus-Leader: http://goo.gl/zgltKf

TWITTER TRAFFIC -- @dceiver: This salad is worse than Dred Scott you guys.

THE ROGERS REPORT – Our David Rogers details the similarities between baseball – America’s pastime -- and the appropriations process: “You laugh, but the two share a lot: the long grueling season, late summer nights, beaucoup numbers, dreams of past glory come October. And as the first spending bills roll out, no dream’s bigger than repeating that championship pennant run of 1996. Just as today, 1996 followed on a disastrous government shutdown. And Republicans in Congress worked then with a Democratic White House to make amends by passing before Oct. 1 all of the annual bills required to keep agencies operating for the next 12 months.”

--“It raises the question: Could this happen again this summer? And if not, why not? Like grizzled managers on the dugout steps, Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) and Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) swear it won’t be for lack of trying. ‘We’re going to go straight ahead until we’re shot dead,’ says Rogers, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. Mikulski, his Senate counterpart, channels the Old Testament — and a little Russell Crowe. http://goo.gl/Z1u5WR

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GOOD THURSDAY MORNING, APRIL 3, 2014 and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of all the action on Capitol Hill. Please send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints, corrections and coffee recommendations to skim@politico.com. If you don’t already, please follow me on Twitter @seungminkim.

My new followers include @YvonneLeow and @NCaplanBricker.

TODAY IN CONGRESS – The House is in session at 10 a.m. for morning hour and noon for legislative business. Lawmakers will continue work on the Save American Workers Act, and the only set of votes is expected between 2:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. The Senate will convene at 9:30 a.m. and continue work on extension of unemployment insurance. Final passage of UI and work on some executive nominations could come today.

WILL RYAN BUDGET HAVE THE VOTES? Jake Sherman and Lauren French report for the hometown paper: “With roughly one week until a planned floor vote, an unexpected hiccup has surfaced: A small pocket of Republicans are threatening to vote against the Budget Committee chairman’s proposal because they are angry about a controversial parliamentary maneuver GOP leadership deployed last week on the so-called doc fix. ‘The [Medicare reimbursement vote] is part of a whole strategy to lay low and not take any hard positions before the election,’ said Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.), who voted for the budget last year and has told leadership of his unease voting for it after the move … And the simmering dispute is significant as it carries political consequences. Even the smallest group of members voting ‘no’ can potentially put a vote in jeopardy and give a black eye to Ryan — a potential 2016 presidential contender — and Republican leadership.” http://goo.gl/gA5ot2

--Still, Republicans are confident the Ryan budget will pass, as The Hill’s Erik Wasson and Russell Berman note: http://goo.gl/qVcEHP

TWITTER TRAFFIC -- @dnewhauser: Rep. Jim Jordan just deferred a question to Rep Mick Mulvaney in the hallway, who, sitting and on the phone, promptly gave him the finger.

BIPARTISANSHIP! – House Majority Leader Eric Cantor will be on hand as President Barack Obama signs the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act into law at 4 p.m. at the White House. The legislation, named after the 10-year-old girl from Leesburg, Va., who had worked to raise cancer awareness before dying of brain cancer last fall, sets aside more funding for pediatric cancer research. Gabriella’s family – mom Ellyn, dad Mark and brother Jake – will also attend the bill signing, as well as other lawmakers.

--More Hill leaders at the White House: Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will meet with leadership from both parties and chambers of the Capitol to talk about his Europe trip and the ongoing situation in Ukraine. That meeting is at 6 p.m.

RUBIO WON’T RUN FOR SENATE *AND* WHITE HOUSE – The Florida senator indicates during an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt that he won’t have an “exit strategy” if he runs for the presidency in 2016. The Huffington Post’s Sabrina Siddiqui recaps: “‘I think, by and large, when you choose to do something as big as that, you've really got to be focused on that and not have an exit strategy,’ Rubio said. Florida state law also prohibits individuals from appearing on the ballot for two different offices. ‘I think that's the right law,’ Rubio said. The Florida senator's remarks stand in contrast to Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, another potential contender for the next GOP presidential ticket.” http://goo.gl/PjfqQG

MILITARY DREAM ACT IN DEFENSE BILL? Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle and Jonathan Strong scoop: “House Republicans are quietly working to insert immigration legislation into the text of the Department of Defense authorization bill that would allow so-called DREAMers to obtain permanent legal residency by joining the military, Breitbart News has learned. The language, which if successful would mark the first effort by House Republicans to provide any form of amnesty since the GOP took control of the House in 2010, has set off a panic among top immigration hawks that the effort could open an immigration Pandora’s box, paving the way for broader legislation. Sophomore Republican Rep. Jeff Denham of California, a close ally of GOP Whip Kevin McCarthy, is leading the push to add the text of his ‘ENLIST Act’ into the National Defense Authorization Act, which could come to the House floor as early as next month.” http://goo.gl/lkVou7

GUTIERREZ: OBAMA WILL ACT ON IMMIGRATION BY JULY 4 – The Illinois Democrat, who has met with the president and DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson in recent weeks to discuss immigration, insisted during a floor speech Wednesday that the administration will take some action on deportations unless the House moves reform legislation in the next 34 legislative days: “(Obama) has alternatives under existing law. There are concrete ways within existing law to help keep families together and spare U.S. citizens from losing their wives and their husbands and their children to deportation, in spite of your lack of action. And the president is going to do it. I saw it in his eyes when I met with him.”

--And Democrats on Wednesday pushed a futile attempt to attach their comprehensive immigration reform bill to the House Republican budget, giving the caucus another talking point against the GOP majority. NBC News: http://goo.gl/ftu72V

REID: NOT DEALING ON MINIMUM WAGE – POLITICO’s Burgess Everett reports: “At a news conference Wednesday alongside much of his caucus, a combative Reid battled with reporters who questioned how the Senate can actually raise the minimum wage if it doesn’t compromise with Republicans to garner the necessary 60 votes. Reid and the bill’s chief sponsor, Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, both say they won’t budge on a rate of $10.10 an hour, even as Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) tries to write a proposal that Republicans can support … Collins said this week that she is trying to find a middle ground on a deal to raise the minimum wage, extend tax breaks for small businesses and possibly change the definition of full-time work under the Affordable Care Act from 30 hours to 40 hours.” http://goo.gl/pmhVl9

WEDNESDAY’S TRIVIA WINNER – Claude Marx and Jim Casto answered within seconds of each other that Chancellor of the Exchequer in the U.K. House of Commons now assumes the responsibilities of the former Ways and Means Committee there, which was abolished in 1967.

TODAY'S TRIVIA – A twist for today: Since we had double winners, we’ll have double questions. Jim asks: Who was the only recent U.S. president who never threw out a ceremonial first pitch at an opening day game? And Claude’s question: If Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell loses his reelection bid this year, he will be the first Kentucky senator in 30 years. Who was the last such senator and who beat him? The first person to correctly answer both questions gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. Email me at skim@politico.com

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